Clone CL B5 of
Trypanosoma cruzi
is a β-galactosidase
expressing organism that was genetically transfected to be used for in vitro pharmacological
screening. Biological parameters were determined, evaluating growth kinetics of
epimastigotes, metacyclogenesis, infectivity to mammalian cell lines, parasitemia
kinetics in mice and sensibility to nifurtimox and benznidazole. Differences in
relation to other strains and CL parental strain were found, the most important
being the incapability to produce death to mice in spite of the high inoculum
used. However, it possesses the required features to be used for in vitro drug
screening. Data obtained demonstrate that heterogeneity of
T. cruzi appears
even among clones of the same strain, and that these differences found do not
prevent the use of clone CL B5 for the purpose that was engineered.
